This study aims to examine the challenges facing Tanzania's primary education in achieving quality education and make comparisons with other countries. This study employed secondary data analysis procedures. The documents reviewed were published from January 2002 to October 2021. Firstly, the documents comprised the government's plans and policies, as well as non-governmental and multilateral organizations’ reports. Secondly, empirical studies, namely scholarly journals, reviewed articles, reference books, and theses, were reviewed. As a result of searches conducted by Google Scholar, Taylor and Francis, Sage Publication, and Science Direct, a total of 50 documents were retrieved and considered for content analysis. The findings showed that despite the noticeable achievements, the learning quality and outcomes remain daunting in Tanzanian primary schools. Explicitly, the pupil-classroom ratio (PCR) is very high due to a shortage of school buildings to accommodate the rapid increase in enrollment of pupils necessitated by the Free Primary Education (FPE) policy. The textbook-pupil ratio (TPR) and pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) are high and do not match the desirable demands. Teachers have doubtful quality since there are low entrance qualifications for the colleges and they receive little or no in-service training. Also, teachers’ absenteeism from duty is overwhelming. The budget allocation and expenditure on education have been inadequate, resulting in a shortage of necessary school infrastructure, including classrooms and libraries. Moreover, the curriculum lacks relevance to the Tanzania context, and its development process is not inclusive of stakeholders. The academic performance of pupils in school tests and national examinations is not impressive and consistent. Similar challenges face Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya, which are considered case studies of developing countries, specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa. Developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea, on the other hand, experience language barriers in multicultural societies, technological bullying, classroom breakdowns, a lack of parental cooperation, and academic pressure and anxiety. This study recommended policymakers in Tanzania and Sub-Saharan Africa at large should critically rethink their educational plans, policies, and programs so that they can adopt the best approaches and strategies for providing quality primary education. This could involve more investment in education, researching on alternative education, and trying to embrace the out-of-school programs that continue to receive considerable attention in academic discussions

Based on the multilingual perspective that emphasizes that non-native variants of English need to be recognized as having values equivalent to the native speakers’ English, this study aimed at discovering elementary school teachers’ perceptions and beliefs of native-speakerism, multilingualism, and monolingualism in English education, and the contradictions and questions they had as they reflected on the language ideologies. Nine elementary teachers participated in the study, and two written reflections on language ideologies and two follow-up group interviews were used as the data source. The findings were as follows. First, the teachers confirmed, consolidated, or realized how native speakerism and monolingualism were deeply rooted in English teaching and learning. However, they showed that they had agency in their own teaching, and also showed changes in their perception through reflecting on their experiences. Last, the teachers had questions and contradictions about implementing a multilingual approach in teaching English, which provides the issues and challenges to be solved for the transformation of English education in the multilingual world. This study has implications for primary English education.

The use of humor has been a controversial research topic in language classrooms. Humor is pervasive; however, the functions of humor in primary English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms is under-investigated. To analyze the distinct features of humor, this study explores the specific functions of humor in primary English teaching classrooms in South Korea. The data set included thirty 40-minute English lessons videotaped in 2019 and semi-structured interviews with three teachers. Data were analyzed by identifying humor sequences, transcribing these classroom sessions and interviews, coding recurrent themes, and sorting representative excerpts. As a result, psychological, social, and behavioral functions of humor were conceptualized. The findings showed that humor (i) mitigated learners’ anxiety and aroused interest in language learning, (ii) reinforced constructive teacher-learner relationships and enabled camaraderie between learners, and (iii) regulated student behavior or rationalized learners’ listening incomprehension. Pedagogical implications are also discussed regarding ways to use and respond to humor in language classrooms.

This paper presented a case of the ICT Innovation Centres in Primary Schools in Kenya for the effective operation and management of ICT integrated education based on the results of the centre users’satisfaction and improved competency in ICT in education. Global society pursed results-based management to materialize the principles of effective development cooperation. In line with the principle, the project team for establishing the Centres has supported the local operators to operate and manage the centres with the manual and surveyed to capture the results of the operation and management focusing on the users' satisfaction and competency. As result, these two centres encouraged the users to be exposed to use facilities and equipment for understanding ICT and applying it in their teaching and learning activities physically. In particular, these centres helped them to participate in community activities which were recognized as the foundation of sustainable operation and management of the centres. The teaching and learning environment significantly affected the users' satisfaction and improved competency. But, still, additional content would be required for enhancing the performance of the users. For the long-term results, this study proposed that the impact of using the centres should be monitored continuously to carry out tangible results of teaching and learning performance because the centres were operated less than a year and still required to stock relevant data.

본 연구는 중국 초등학교 구성원들의 교수효과성을 높이는 데 있어서 교사가 인식하고 있는 교장의 수업지도성 현황을 알아보고 더 효율성 있는 학교조직문화를 조성하기 위해서 학교 조직문화 유형에 따라 교사가 지각한 교장의 수업지도성 및 교수효능감 차이와 각 변인 간의 상관관계 및 영향관계를 규명하 는 데 목적이 있다. 그 실증분석 결과에 의하면 교사의 배경변인(성별, 담당학년, 교직 경력)에 따라 저학년, 교직 경력 20년 이상의 남교사들은 여교사들보다 수업지도성, 학교조직문화, 교수효능감에 대한 인식이 유의미한 수준에서 높게 나타났다. 그리고 교장의 직접적인 수업지도성인 수업개선과 수업평가를 잘 할수록 학교조직문화와 교사의 교수효능감에 미치는 영향력이 더 크게 나타났다. 또한 혁신문화일수록 교수효능감의 하위변인에 미치는 영향력이 더 크게 나타났다. 따라서 교장의 수업 지도성은 학교조직문화와 교사의 교수효능감에 영향을 미치고, 학교조직문화 역시 교사의 교수효능감에 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 아울러 교장의 수업지도성이 학교조직문화를 통해 교사의 교수효능감에 간접적으로 영향을 준다는 점도 확인되었다. 연구결과를 토대로 학교현장의 교수효과성을 극대화하기 위해서 교장의 수업지도성을 제고하고 유익한 학교조직문화를 형성함으로써 효과적인 학교를 만드는 노력을 필요로 하고 있음을 제시하였다.

This paper analyses the determinants of schoolchildren’s food preferences, paying attention to the relative importance of child/parent, school and locality factors, using multilevel modelling. Urbanisation, location in a poorer neighbourhood, having a school lunch and some specific parental practices positively affect the range of foods and vegetables liked by children.

Seismic qualification of equipment including piping is performed by using floor response spectra (FRS) or in-structure response spectra (ISRS) as the earthquake input at the base of the equipment. The amplitude of the FRS may be noticeably reduced when obtained from coupling analysis because of interaction between the primary structure and the equipment. This paper introduces a method using a modal synthesis approach to generate the FRS in a coupled primary-secondary system that can avoid numerical instabilities or inaccuracies. The FRS were generated by considering the dynamic interaction that can occur at the interface between the supporting structure and the equipment. This study performed a numerical example analysis using a typical nuclear structure to investigate the coupling effect when generating the FRS. The study results show that the coupling analysis dominantly reduces the FRS and yields rational results. The modal synthesis approach is very practical to implement because it requires information on only a small number of dynamic characteristics of the primary and the secondary systems such as frequencies, modal participation factors, and mode shape ordinates at the locations where the FRS needs to be generated.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) are immunemediated chronic liver diseases. PSC is a rare disorder characterized by multi-focal bile duct strictures and progressive liver diseases, in which liver transplantation is required ultimately in most patients. Imaging studies such as magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography have important role in diagnosis in most cases of PSC. PSC is usually accompanied by inflammatory bowel disease and there is a high risk of cholangiocarcinoma and colorectal cancer in PSC. No medical therapies have been proven to delay progression of PSC. Endoscopic intervention for tissue diagnosis or biliary drainage is frequently required in cases of PSC with dominant stricture, acute cholangitis, or clinically suspected cholangiocarcinoma. PBC is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune cholestatic liver disease, which when untreated will culminate in endstage biliary cirrhosis requiring liver transplantation. Diagnosis is usually based on the presence of serum liver tests indicative of a cholestatic hepatitis in association with circulating antimitochondrial antibodies. Patient presentation and course can be diverse in PBC and risk stratification is important to ensure all patients receive a personalised approach to their care. Medical therapy using ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) or obeticholic acid (OCA) has an important role to reduce the progression to end-stage liver disease in PBC.

21세기 이래, 중국은 ‘교육 강국’이라는 구호를 내걸고 국가와 정부 는 교육 사업을 우선적으로 발전시키고 있다. 중국은 9년제 의무교육 을 실시하고 공립초등학교는 국가에서 전액 지원하고 있다. 그러나 사립초등학교는 독립적으로 운영되며 중소학교교육의 불가결의 일부 분이다. 이는 공립학교의 스트레스를 완화시켰을 뿐만 아니라 학교운 영의 특색도 형성하였다. 중국에서는 공립ㆍ사립 초등학교가 모두 입 시 위주의 교육 아래 같은 응시 과정을 실시한다. 그러나 법에 의해 설립된 교육기구로서 중국의 사립초등학교는 국가의 전액재정보조가 없기에 독립적인 관리, 독립적인 모집과 교직원 관리가 필요하다. 공 립초등학교 교원과 비교할 때 작업강도가 높고 사회적 지위와 인정 도가 낮기 때문에 중국 사립 소학교의 교원은 일반적으로 불안정하 다. 이 연구는 중국 강서성의 5개 사립초등학교 교사 360명을 대상으 로 341개의 유효한 표본을 수집했다. 본 연구는 <초등학교 교사 직 업행복감>을 측정도구로 사용하였다. 조사 데이터를 기초로 본 연구 는 강서성 사립초등학교 교사들의 직업 행복감의 현황과 사립초등학 교 교사들의 직업 행복감에 영향을 미치는 다른 차원 총체적 특징을 분석했다. 연구결과에 대한 데이터분석을 통해 중국 사립 초등학교 교사들의 사회지지와 자아실현의 어려움이 교원직업의 행복체험에 영향주고 있다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 그 결과를 보면 중국에서 사립 초등학교 여자 교사의 직업 행복감이 남자 교사보다 높았고, 청년 교 사의 직업 행복감이 교사 연령이 긴 교사보다 높았음을 알 수 있다. 문학, 수학, 영어 과목은 초등학교 주요 시험 과목이다. 3개 주요 시 험 과목의 교사들은 사회적 지원을 받기 때문에 상대적으로 직업 행 복도가 높게 나타나고 있다. 연구결과에 근거하여 다음과 같은 대책을 제기한다. 첫째, 사회에 대한 인식을 전환하고 사립초등학교 교원의 사회적 지위를 제고시켜 야 한다. 둘째, 사립 초등학교는 자기의 독특한 학교 운영 특성을 수 립할 때 교원의 주체역할을 강화하고 교원의 관리역할을 충분히 발 휘시켜야 한다. 셋째, 사립 초등학교 교원에 대한 관심을 강화해야 한다. 학교 관리자들은 인문 배려를 통해 교원의 수요를 만족시키고 교원의 친근감과 학교에 대한 귀속감을 제고해야 한다. 남녀 교사, 청년 교원, 수업 연한이 긴 교원 및 각 학과 교원에게 적합한 직업발 전환경을 제공해야 한다.

The purpose of this research study is to identify the perceptions of both primary ELL(English Language Learner)s and English teachers on MMP(Multimodal Media Production)-embedded English instruction at a primary English class. In order to answer this question, 182 primary ELLs and 2 English teachers participated in this research. A questionnaire survey was administered to the focal participants and an open-ended interview was conducted with the teachers. The results show that overall perceptions on MMP were comparably high among ELLs, and there was significant difference between genders, grades and English levels in terms of learning interest. The teachers’ interview revealed that MMP would trigger deeper understanding of the lesson and ELLs’ voluntary active class participation by heightening motivation, self-confidence and interest in learning English. In sum, the implementation of MMP-embedded English instruction has positive pedagogical effects for young ELLs since it may promote essential literacy skills in the 21st century as well as help in affective domains.

Fish ovarian germline stem cells (OGSCs) that have the abilities to self-renew and differentiate into functional gametes can be used in various researches and applications. A main issue to be solved for effective utilization of fish OGSCs is the development of their stable in vitro culture condition, but only few researches about fish OGSC culture have been reported so far. In this study, in order to find the clues to develop the culture condition for OGSCs from Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), we tried to establish somatic cell lines as a candidate for the feeder cells and evaluated its supporting effects on the culture of ovarian cell populations from O. latipes. As the results, the somatic cell lines could be established only from the embryonic tissues among three tissues derived from embryos, fins and ovaries. Three embryonic cell lines were tested as a feeder cell for the culture of ovarian cell population and all three cell lines induced cell aggregation formation of the cultured ovarian cells whereas the feeder-free condition did not. Furthermore, a significant cellular proliferation was observed in the ovarian cells cultured on two of three cell lines. As a trial to increase the capacity of the cell lines as a feeder cell that supports the proliferation of the cultured ovarian cells, we subsequently established a stable line that expresses the foreign O. latipes fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) from an embryonic cell line and evaluated its effectiveness as a feeder cell. The ovarian cells cultured on FGF2 expressing feeder cells still formed cell aggregates but did not show a significant increase in cellular proliferation compared to those cultured on non-transformed feeder cells. The results from this study will provide the fundamental information for in vitro culture of medaka OGSCs.

Seismic responses due to the dynamic coupling between a primary structure and secondary system connected to a structure are analyzed in this study. The seismic responses are compared based on dynamic coupling criteria and according to the error level in the natural frequency, with the recent criteria being reliant on the error level in the spectral displacement response. The acceleration responses and relative displacement responses of a primary structure and a secondary system for a coupled model and two different decoupled models of two degrees-of-freedom system are calculated by means of the time integration method. Errors in seismic responses of the uncoupled models are reduced with the recent criteria. As the natural frequency of the secondary system increases, error in the natural frequency decreases, but seismic responses of uncoupled models can be underestimated compared to that of coupled model. Results in this paper can help determine dynamic coupling and predict uncoupled models’ response conservatism.

This study examined how teaching and learning activities in primary English textbooks include the components of creativity and character building. Three third and fourth grade level textbooks based on the 2015 revised curriculum were analyzed in order to find the proportions of the components of creativity and character building, and the types of learning activities that embody those components were analyzed by examining the teachers’ guides. The analysis revealed that all of the textbooks examined included diverse components that were intented to increase creativity, among which components stimulating divergent thinking and originality were a high proportion, while convergent thinking and dispositional aspects appeared less frequently. Among character building components, care-forgiveness and responsibility were two of the more popular components, while honesty and moral judgment were few and far between. From these findings, this study suggests that the components of creativity and character building should be more evenly distributed across textbook activities since they should be of equal importance in education.